SB Nation Tampa Bay - Orioles Beat Rays 3-2 Despite Strong Performance From Pricehttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49019/tb-fave.png2011-09-03T10:54:22-04:00http://tampabay.sbnation.com/rss/stream/21650342011-09-03T10:54:22-04:002011-09-03T10:54:22-04:00Britton, Orioles Beat Rays 3-2 Despite Strong Performance From Price
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<p>Does anyone else feel it? Over the last week, I’ve started to get this nagging feeling that this is it: the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.draysbay.com/">Rays</a> are losing steam. They’re currently nine games back in the Wild Card race, and with less than a month to go in the season, it’s pretty obvious that it’d take a miracle for them to make the playoffs at this point. While they haven’t gone on a skid like the ‘09 team yet, they’re 5-5 over their last 10 games and they’ve played some pretty “blah” games. The end is nigh, and I think the Rays are starting to realize as much.</p>
<p>But despite the fact that the Rays lost tonight, this was still an entertaining game. The Rays jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, as <span>Desmond Jennings</span> singled, <span>Johnny Damon</span> walked, and <span>Evan Longoria</span> doubled them both home. After this initial outburst, though, the Rays would only get three more hits all evening and wouldn’t score again. <span>Jose Lobaton</span> led off the second inning with a double, but the Rays simply couldn’t muster the offense to drive him in.</p>
<p>For a while, though, it looked like those two runs would be enough. <span>David Price</span> pitched masterfully, striking out 11 batters and only walking three through seven innings of work. This was his second start in a row where he’s struck out more than 10 batters in a game — he had 14 K’s last game — and after the game Price said he felt he had even better stuff than his last time out.</p>
<p>You know what’s crazy? It looks to me like Price was throwing a slider-ish pitch last night. Look at<a target="_blank" href="http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/movement.php?pitchSel=456034&game=gid_2011_09_02_balmlb_tbamlb_1/&batterX=0&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=2"> this plot</a> - what could that cluster of orange dots be? It’s moving horizontally like a slider but not dropping off quite as much, and the pitches were traveling at around 90 <span class="caps">MPH</span>. Maybe it was a modified four-seam fastball? A hard slider without the bite? Whatever it was, Price threw a lot of them last night and they seemed to get the job done. <i>Edit: </i>Late night brain fart, it’s a cutter. Duh.</p>
<p>The Luck Dragons wouldn’t let this stand, though. In the seventh inning, he let up a bloop hit and two walks, and then the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.camdenchat.com/">Orioles</a> scored one run off a sacrifice fly. Price could still have gotten out of it, though, as the next batter hit a hard groundball to first, but the ball deflected off Kotchman and Zobrist couldn’t get the ball out of his glove to make the throw in time. The next batter, <span>J.J. Hardy</span>, hit a weak through the left side to drive in the Orioles’ third and winning run. Talk about dribbling a team to death.</p>
<p><b>Game Notes:</b></p>
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<li><span style="font-size: 12px;">The Durham Bulls <a target="_blank" href="http://durhambulls.com/team/game_story.html?id=1899">clinched their fifth consecutive division title</a> tonight, beating the Orioles’ Triple-A club 4-1. Matt Moore struck out 10 (does he ever stop?), and <span>Dan Johnson</span> cracked a two-run homer. The playoffs start for them Wednesday against Columbus. Hey, if the Rays can’t make the playoffs, at least some team in the organization will.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px;"><span>Brandon Guyer</span> may have made the final out of the game, but he had a beautiful diving catch out in right field earlier in the game. We haven’t had a chance to see Guyer much yet, but I am liking what I’m seeing. The speed and athleticism are definitely both there.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px;"><span>Kevin Gregg</span> tried his hardest to blow the save in the bottom of the ninth inning, which had the side effect of making me realize how lucky we are the Rays didn’t sign him this offseason. Remember when we were all disappointed when the Rays signed Farnsworth instead of <span>Jon Rauch</span> or Kevin Gregg? Yeah, now both Gregg and Rauch have ERAs close to 5.00 and FIPs to match. You just never can tell with this sport.</span></li>
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https://tampabay.sbnation.com/tampa-bay-rays/2011/9/3/2402354/britton-orioles-beat-rays-3-2-despite-strong-performance-from-priceSteve Slowinski2011-09-02T15:48:26-04:002011-09-02T15:48:26-04:00Orioles Comes To The Trop, Rays Hitters Rejoice
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<p>The Tampa Bay Rays (74-62) face off against the Baltimore Orioles (54-81) in a three-game series at the Trop.</p> <p>Things have not gone so well for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.camdenchat.com/">Baltimore Orioles</a> (54-81) this season. After making numerous small signings and trades this offseason, the O's seemed on the verge of mediocrity. A winning record was far from an outrageous goal for the Orioles in 2011, but sadly, all that hope has since faded away. The Orioles currently have the worst record in the American League and the second-worst record in the majors, which if nothing else should give them a great draft pick next year.</p>
<p>The O's main problem has been their pitching; their staff has a collective 4.89 ERA, worst in the majors by a wide margin. Somehow, though, the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.draysbay.com/">Tampa Bay Rays</a> have gotten incredibly lucky and will face the Orioles' three best starters in this series: <span>Zach Britton</span> (3.81 <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/pitching/fip/" target="_blank">FIP</a>), <span>Alfredo Simon</span> (3.96 FIP), and <span>Jeremy Guthrie</span> (4.55 FIP). While none of these three pitchers are ace material, they could still make the series interesting for the Rays.</p>
<p>The Rays are coming off a series loss to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Texas Rangers</a>, and I'm sure they're glad to get out of the Texas heat and back to the air conditioned goodness of Tropicana Field.<br>_______________________________________________________________________________</p>
<p><b>Friday, 7:10 PM: </b>Zach Britton vs. <span>David Price</span><br><b>Saturday, 6:10 PM:</b> Alfredo Simon vs. <span>Wade Davis</span><br><b>Sunday, 1:40 PM: </b>Jeremy Guthrie vs. <span>Jeremy Hellickson</span></p>
<p><b>Watch On: </b>Sun Sports, WDAE 620</p>
https://tampabay.sbnation.com/tampa-bay-rays/2011/9/2/2400888/orioles-comes-to-the-trop-rays-hitters-rejoiceSteve Slowinski